In 2010 the Chairman of the Legal Services Board, a body set up to oversee lawyers in England and Wales, requested a review of legal education and training. This review, intended to the be the most significant examination of legal education since Ormrod reported in 1971 – Report of the Committee on Legal Education, Cmnd 4595. Backed by the three main professional legal regulators in the UK the Solicitors Regulation Authority, the Bar Standards Board and Institute of Legal Executives Professional Standards, the Legal Education and Training Review started in mid 2011 and was completed early in 2013.

This paper will comment upon the background to the Review and the challenges it faced; examine the Review’s composition; summarise the results of each the four stages of the review process; look at the recommendations of the review and see whether the recommendations went far enough; and look to the future to see which of the recommendations are likely to result in implementation. Finally, the paper will ask the question, did the Review go far enough?